Gold-amalgamating machine



(No Model.)

. P. E. GAFFRON.

GOLD AMALGAMATING MACHINE No. 520,847. Patented June 5, 1894.

J-IDUQCJIJZVOJV1 vQM fi ra Skw.

- city of Denver,

PATENT OFFICE.

PHILLIP EMIL GAFFRON, OF DENVER, COLORADO.

.GOLD-AMALGAMATING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 520,847,

dated June 5, 1894.

Application filedDecember 5,1892. Serial mataosv. (NomodeL) To aZZ whom,it may concern.-

Be it known that I, PHILLIP EMIL GAFFRON, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at the in the county of Arapahoe, in the State ofColorado, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement inGold-Amalgamating Machines, and according to my knowledge andbelief thesame has not been in public use or on sale in the United States for morethan two years prior to this application or at all; and I do herebydeclare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description ofthe invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which itpertains to make and use the same, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon,which form part of this specification.

Thisinvention relates to and is intended for the amalgamation andaccumulation of gold which maybe contained in a stream of water flowingthrough a sluice box or flume.

The object of my invention is to enable a person working gold ore in asluice box or flume to gather and accumulate that portion of the goldore or gold itself which is commonly denominated and termed by theminors to be float gold and which in ordinary sluice boxes or flumes isso light and small in particle that it does not precipitate to thebottom and amalgamate with the quicksilver usually deposited in sluiceboxes or flumes.

This invention is most particularly intended and designed for the use ofminers or persons operating stamp mil-ls.

Figure 1, is a perspective view of a portion of my invention. Fig. 2, isa longitudinal section of the wheel. Fig. 3, is a longitudinal sectionof the wheel with the paddles removed. Fig. 4, is aside elevation,partly in section showing a portion of the [ionic containing the wheel.

The amalgamator is an undershot water Wheel, set in a flume or sluicebox. It has paddles or flanges with their outer ends at thecircumference of the wheel, bent one side forward and parallelwiththecircumference of the wheel and the other side bent back oppositely butinclining toward the center of the wheel. The wheel has both endsclosed. There is a central cylinder around and on which the paddles arefastened. This forms aseries of chambers or boxes open at thecircumference but so formed that they retain the mercury during therotations of the Wheel. As each chamber passes the point in itsrotations where the outer opening is facing downward the mercury isretained by the upper or right hand flange at the circumference, itbeing bent or projecting toward the center of the wheel and henceupward; as it passes onto the right and the said flange becomeshorizontal the mercury will flow out and be caught by the under or lefthand flange at the circumference of the wheel because it has then passedto and under the point of overflow and catches the mercury and it isretained in the box, the last mentioned or under flange having reached apoint where it, being parallel with the circumference, points from theend of the paddle in an upward direction. When the upper or the righthand flange has passed to the point where it is level or horizontal andwould allow the flow of the mercury the lower or the left hand flangehas passed to the point where it lies underneath the end of the righthand flange and at an angle pointing upward from the end of the paddleto the right and along the circumference and hence it retains themercury until the box reaches in turn the top of the wheel where themercury is again shifted to the othcrside of the chamber or box.

The'object is accomplished by placing the wheel shown in the drawings byFig. 1, marked A in the sluice box as shown in Fig. 1. The ends of thewheel are removable for cleaning purposes and are fastened by a rod runthrough the center of the wheel and fastened by a nut upon each end. Theforce of the water passing through the flume causes the wheel to revolveand each of the chambers contain mercury and are successively brought incontact with and filled with liquid. The chambers are made of or arelined with copper. The flume is made of wood and the riffles are made ofcopper. The water containing ore, tailings from a stamp mill or dirtwashed from a placer mine contains in sus pension fine or what theminers term float gold, flows through the box and it is all brought incontact with the mercury, amalgamated and saved. Frequently the floatgold is too IOD light and fine to be precipitated to the mercury lyingamong the rifiies at the bottom of a sluice box and is carried away andlost. lhis device can be used in any sluice box or fiume at a placermine or where the tailings of a mill are carried off.

In Fig. 1, the wheel is seen placed in the flume.

In Fig. 2, A A are rubber gasket making C is the rod. E which thepaddles F are attached.

Fig. 3 represents the wheel detached.

I am aware that prior to my invention gold was amalgamated with mercuryby means of rifiles. I claim nothing by the broad principle ofamalgamation, but

the ends. D is a the ends water tight. is the cylinder upon What I doclaim for my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-- Thecombination with a flume or a sluice box of a rotary wheel mountedtherein, said wheel being provided with paddles having at their outerends oppositely projecting flanges forming open boxes of such shape thatwhen rotated by the flow of liquid in the dome, they will retain acharge of mercury placed therein and bring it in contact with the pulp.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing invention as my own Iaffix mysignature in the presence of two witnesses.

PHILLIP EMIL Witnesses:

A. ll. BAKER,

JAMES A. CHENY.

GAF F RON.

